Book of Creating: Reincarnation

 

This is a total work which consists in the relationship among a group of paintings. The concept of the whole work could be called the "book of creation": it's a representation of real visible man-made things.

 

The observation is not a simple 'gaze' at the objects and objectivity. It is an examination of the trace of human activity. The saying goes that "things are constant, people change", constancy and change actually exist in the relationship between people and objects. The chosen objects include household objects (a fridge); objects that are worshiped as idols (figure of Buddha); lost objects laden with the beauty of human tragedy (a shipwreck, i.e. the Titanic)... These objects are not depicted in use. Rather they are shown before or after their use (an abandoned fridge; the statue and the Titanic in the process of construction; a collapsed pagoda). This temporal slip emphasises the meaning and emotion with which we imbue these objects (and which is often ignored during practical use): a homesickness from falling between relic and rubbish; lament over the inconstancy of the world;repetition of history and memory; the creation of commemorative and devotional objects; objects to replace other objects... psychological investment in and refusal to let go of legends and romances in our own uneventful lives. These psychological experiences are becoming more and more relevant amid the reality of China's shocking social changes and the rise of materialism and consumerism. One could say that these objects in the paintings are in the process of reincarnation, and that social change and the immediacy of use are making this reincarnation more radical than it has ever been.

 

About Reactivation: The 9th Shanghai Biennale

 

The formation of this theme “Reactivation” is closely connected with the relocation of the Shanghai Biennale and the establishment of the Shanghai Power Station of Art, naturally corresponding to the renovation and reopening of the original Nanshi Power Plant and then the Pavilion of Future of the World Expo 2010 Shanghai. It takes full advantage of the urban memories and the resources of world expo, grasps the life lines of the cradle of modern Chinese industry, undertakes the mission of contemporary resource reform, and representatively manifests the significance of the Shanghai Biennale and the Power Station of Art as source of thoughts and power generator of creativity.

 

Like other renovation projects of industrial sites around the world, the reorientation and exploitation of the original power plant is not merely recycle of waste resources, but the self-reflection and redesign about the whole city’s ecology. The idea behind “Reactivation” is not relocating a power plant to a place far away from the city, or generating power with renewable energy. Rather, it is an opportunity for us to think about how we live.

 

Communal intergrowth is energy source, and 'others' are a form of mineral resources. We have to mention the means of some other energy sources again, that is, seeking for energy from the relations of community. For example, on cold winter days when we were kids, we would not always use a stove to keep us warm. Instead, we would cuddle together for warmth. Energy is not some hidden treasure waiting to be discovered; it comes from collective consciousness. The difference between others and us becomes the source of our energy. Thus, to protect others and the society is the truly sustainable form of development.

 

—Qiu Zhijie

 

Curatorial Team of the 9th Shanghai Biennale

 

Chief Curator

Qiu Zhijie is a professor at the School of Inter-media Art of China Art Academy, the Director of Total Art Studio and member of the supervisor team in the Art and Social Thoughts Institute. As an active artist, Qiu's artworks take a variety of forms such as calligraphy, painting, photography, video, installation and theater and have been shown a large number of art museums across the world. His works are collected by individual and institutional collectors home and abroad. His solo exhibitions are held in art museums such as Haus of World Culture in Berlin 2009, Ullens Contemporary Art Center in Beijing in 2009 and Zendai Museum of Modern Art in Shanghai in 2008. He participated in exhibitions such as the 53rd Venice Biennale, 25th Sao Paulo Biennale and "New Art in China, Post-1989".

 

He is also a prolific and influential writer and has published many art theory books such as Image and Post-modernism, Give Me A Mask, The Boundary of Freedom, The Scene is Most Important, Photography After Photography, Basic Course in Total Art Creation as well as On Total Art.

 

Since 2003, Qiu has been teaching in the Total Art Studio of China Academy of Art. He proposed ways to develop the concept of "total art" and created a dynamic force in the context of formal art education and Chinese contemporary art institutions. Based on cultural studies, the teaching and artistic creation in the studio borrows heavily from sociology, archeology and media studies and relies on tools such as social investigation, symbol analysis and art events to intervene with the daily life, creating a sophisticated cultural production model that combines observation, action, installation, live art, event art, writing and curating.

 

Qiu Zhijie curated Phenomena and Image in 1996, a series of exhibitions with the theme of "Post-sense Sensibility" between 1999 and 2004, Long March, A Walking Visual Display in 2002, the video part of the First Guangzhou Triennial and Archeology of Future: The Second Triennial of Chinese Art in 2005.

 

Co-Curators

Boris Efimovich Groys, born on 19 March 1947 in Berlin, Germany, Boris Efimovich Groys is an art critic, media theorist and philosopher. He is currently a Global Distinguished Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies at New York University and Senior Research Fellow at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design in Karlsruhe, Germany. He has been a professor of Aesthetics, Art History, and Media Theory at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design/Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe and an internationally acclaimed Professor at a number of universities in the United States and Europe, including the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California and the Courtauld Institute of Art London.

 

Groys has curated numerous exhibitions, including: Fluchtpunkt Moskau at Ludwig Forum (1994 Aachen, Germany), Dream Factory Communism at the Schirn Gallery (2003-2004 Frankfurt, Germany), Privatizations at the KW Institute of Contemporary Art (2004 Berlin, Germany), Total Enlightenment: Conceptual Art in Moscow 1960–1990 (2008-2009) at Kunsthalle Schirn in Frankfurt, Germany, and Fondacion March in Madrid, Spain). He co-curated the exhibition Medium Religion with Peter Weibel at the Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, (2009 Karlsruhe, Germany). Groys is also the curator of the Russian Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale 2011.

 

Johnson Chang Tsong-zung, curator, co-founder of the Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong, co-founder of the Hong Kong chapter of AICA, guest professor of China Art Academy . He has been active in curating Chinese exhibitions since the 1980s; he pioneered participation of Chinese art in international exhibitions, and was instrumental in establishing the international image of Chinese contemporary art of the 1990s. As a curator with strong attachments to the literati tradition, he firmly believes that contemporary art should have unique responsibilities under different contexts and take diverse paths. One of his main concerns is how Chinese art may contribute to world culture. In recent years, a new aspect of his activities centers around the "revival of Chinese visual and material culture" through the intervention of curatorial practice. These projects involve artifacts, space and ritual, forming a special and unique chapter in Chinese contemporary art. His exhibitions include "China's New Art Post-1989" in 1993, Special Exhibitions at the Sao Paulo International Biennial in 1994 and 1996, Hong Kong participation at Sao Paulo Biennial 1996 and Venice Biennial 2001, the "Power of the Word" series of exhibitions, "Strange Heaven: Chinese Contemporary Photography", "Open Asia International Sculpture Exhibition" in Venice 2005, "Yellow Box" series of research projects about contemporary art practice and Chinese space, Guangzhou Triennial 2008.

 

Jens Hoffmann, born in 1974 in San José, Costa Rica, Jens Hoffmann is a writer, editor, educator, and exhibition maker. He has organized exhibitions since the late 1990s; over his 20-year career, Hoffmann has organized over four dozen exhibitions many of which have been characterized as "groundbreaking." From 2003 to 2006, Hoffmann was the Director of Exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. From 2006 to 2012, he served as the director of CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. He was a co-curator of the 2nd San Juan Triennial, Puerto Rico, 2009, and co-curator of the 12th International Istanbul Biennial in 2011. He has served as the founding editor of The Exhibitionist: A Journal for Exhibition Making and Editor-at-large for Mousse Magazine.